SCISSION provides progressive news and analysis from the breaking point of Capital.
SCISSION represents an autonomist Marxist viewpoint.
The struggle against white skin privilege and white supremacy is key.
---
"You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future.”
FIGHT WHITE SUPREMACY, SAVE THE EARTH

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Prachanda warns of 4th movement and indefinite General Strike from January 24th

Nepal's Maoists promise there is more to come and a fourth movement will startsoon with general strike to follow. Prachanda expresses disgust with New Deli'sinterference in the internal affairs of Nepal.

From "Democracy and Class Struggle"

Prachanda warns of 4th movement and indefinite General Strike from January 24th

Prachanda warned it was also the announcement of a fourth protest movementagainst the government that would culminate in an indefinite general strike fromJan 24.

In the past, the Maoists had enforced a 15-day blockade during the 10-year"People's War" and a 19-day peaceful general shutdown in 2006 as part of thepro-democracy movement against King Gyanendra's attempt to rule the country withthe help of the army. Prachanda said the new protests would start from ChristmasDay as a mass awareness campaign to open people's eyes to the presence of"foreign agents" in their midst. He also said the campaign would expose thecorrupt indicted in the Rayamajhi Commission that was formed after the fall ofthe royal regime. Though the commission was formed to punish the perpetrators ofthe anti-people coup, including the king, its report was never made public.

The nearly two-hour rally in Naya Baneshwor - that was the site of violentclashes between protesters and security forces Sunday - saw Prachanda, for thefirst time throwing a direct challenge to India, accusing it of nakedintervention in Nepal's internal matters. "I held talks with the Nepali Congress(NC) leaders but they produced no result," the former revolutionary said withbiting sarcasm. "I held talks with the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified MarxistLeninist (UML), the Prime Minister... But none produced results. Now I have togo to Delhi for talks."

Prachanda reminded his audience that in the years after 2002, when KingGyanendra had sacked Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and propped up threesuccessive governments of his own choosing, the then governments had asked theunderground Maoists to declare a ceasefire and start dialogue. "But we hadrefused, saying we will not negotiate with the servants," he said. "We said wewill talk only with the master. It is now time to say the same thing."

The Maoist chief alleged that New Delhi had propped up Nepal's coalitiongovernment, which was a "puppet" and a "robot" in its hands. When Nepali PrimeMinister Madhav Kumar Nepal returned from the UN climate summit in Copenhagen,Prachanda said the government did not project Nepal's interests abroad but onlytried to project that Indian premier Manmohan Singh had expressed his supportfor it as well as the Chinese government. "The Maoists are not NC or UML," hesaid. "Treat the Maoists as Maoists."

The new Maoist anger with New Delhi was stoked afresh last week after Nepal'sarmy chief Gen Chhatraman Singh Gurung went to India at the invitation of theIndian Army chief, Gen Deepak Kapoor, to receive the traditional honour of beingdeclared general of the Indian Army by Indian President Pratibha Patil.

During the visit, at a banquet hosted by the Nepali general, Gen Kapoor wasreported as saying that he opposed the merger of the Maoists' People'sLiberation Army with the Nepal Army as that would lead to the politicisation ofthe latter. "The comprehensive peace agreement (that ended the Maoist insurgencyin 2006) promises the integration," Prachanda said. "Kapoor's statement was anaked intervention in Nepal's internal matters and yet the corrupt ministers ofthe current government remained silent."

Prachanda said that at a time his party was striving to restore civiliansupremacy in Nepal by campaigning against the President, Dr Ram Baran Yadav, whohad resurrected the possibility of another military coup by preventing hisgovernment from sacking the insubordinate army chief, it was clear that civiliansupremacy was actually murdered in New Delhi.

The Maoists have laid down a five-point agenda for their talks with India. Theyhave also announced a month-long campaign from Dec 25, after which, they havewarned of an indefinite nationwide general strike from Jan 24.

Maoist agenda for talks with India

- All unequal treaties should be scrapped, including the 1950 Peace andFriendship Treaty; all secret treaties have to be revealed

- All border disputes have to be resolved; India has to recall troops fromNepal's Kalapani area

- Trade deficit with India has to be corrected

- India should enact prompt strategy to make Nepal gain from being sandwichedbetween the world's two fastest growing economies